Conventionally, the technique of, responding to an information request being inputted by a user, sequentially juxtaposing a content-related document aggregation in the descending order of a relation degree and outputting it, has been known. In the recent years, the inquiry-response technology of not only proposing documents associated with an information request in a simple manner but also identifying the content of the information request from an inputted inquiry sentence, and extracting and proposing reply information has been studied vigorously.
It is the technology of identifying an information request content for the input inquiry sentence that is one key to this inquiry-response technology. With the information request being identified, not only its content but also its grain differs, depending upon a domain assumed to be an object. For example, in the inquiry-response with an information appliance to be an object, various inquiries and replies, for example, how to use various functions associated with the information appliance, and how to solve a question or trouble, can be envisaged. In this case, it is grasped roughly or in details, responding to a necessity, which inquiry-reply the inputted inquiry sentence corresponds to.
One example of such a conventional technology of identifying the information request content is disclosed in Patent document 1. The Japanese inquiry message analysis device described in the Patent document 1 is configured of an inputting means for inputting a Japanese inquiry message, an information request sentence extracting means for extracting an information request sentence in which a portion used as a core of the information request has been stated from the message, and a Japanese basic analysis section for analyzing the information request sentence, and further a semantic structure analysis section for asking for a semantic structure of the information request sentence, a reference expression canceling means for canceling a reference expression of the request sentence, an information request structurizing means for structurizing main information requests in the message, and an outputting means for outputting the information request sentence.
More specifically, the above-mentioned Japanese inquiry message analysis device operates as follows. When the information request sentence extracting means extracts the information request sentence in which a portion used as a core of the information request has been stated from the inputted Japanese inquiry message, being an object of processing, by paying attention to a specific expression character string, the Japanese basic analysis section generates a syntax analysis result of the information request sentence by performing a syntax analysis process for the information request sentence. And, the semantic structure analysis section collates the syntax analysis result of the information request sentence obtained in the Japanese basic analysis section with a semantic structure pattern dictionary in which the syntax structure has been pre-described for a variation of the information request sentence. Thereby a semantic structure of the information request sentence is extracted. Further, the reference expression canceling means, when the reference expression is included in the information request sentence extracted by the information request sentence extracting means, cancels the above reference expression based upon a characteristic of the information request sentence. The information request structurizing means, when a plurality of the extracted information request sentences in which an information request to an identical object has been described, respectively, integrates a plurality of the structures of the above information request sentences, and structurizes the main information request contents in the Japanese inquiry message. Finally, the outputting means outputs the information request sentence integrated by the information request structurizing means.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Number 3358100